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Bill Macumber has been in prison for 38 years for murder and The Arizona Justice Project wants him freed Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Barry Siegel tells the gripping legal drama of a man who has spent almost forty years in prison for murders he denies commiting and the tenacious lawyers who believe in his innocence. The journey begins in 1962 when the murder of two young people on an isolated lovers' lane in the desert bewildered the inexperienced sheriff's department of Maricopa County, Arizona. Despite a few promising leadsincluding several chilling confessions from a violent repeat offenderthe case went cold. More than a decade later, an ambitious new clerk in the sheriff's department told investigators that her estranged husband was the man responsible. And though scant evidence aside from his soon-to-be ex-wife's accusation linked Macumber to the crime, he was found guilty. The Macumber case, rife with extraordinary irregularities, attracted the attention of the Arizona Justice Project, one of the most respected nonprofit groups that represent victims of manifest injustice throughout the country. This story illuminates the troubling nature our justice system, which has kept a possibly innocent man locked up for forty years, and introduces readers to the dedicated lawyers who are working to fix the system. With precise journalistic detail and riveting storytelling, Barry Siegel will change your understanding of American jurisprudence, police procedure, and what constitutes justice in our country.

Barry Siegel is a Pulitzer Prize winning former national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times and he directs the literary journalism program at UC Irvine where he is a professor of English. He is the author of six books, including Shades of Gray and Claim of Privilege. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter.